Any mods to allow keyboard tuning of radios and autopilot

[zfehr 1]

Hello all,Recently purchased an ACP Compact and really love it in FS9. FlyII didn't support keyboard tuning of radios and therefore the ACP is programmed for various other functions, curious if anyone ever developed a workaround for this so that the keystrokes programmed in to the ACP could be made to work the radios and autopilot. Unfortunately the ACP is programmed by an EPROM and therefore cannot be modified. I would sincerely appreciate any help here, even if it is just direction to where there are instructions on how to do this myself.Thanks,Zane

[Guest andrewluck]

ZaneMy first thought here was that it's not possible as the scripting documentation only lists a GetTunedFrequency function.However, I then got to thinking about the PMDG 777 and you can certainly tune the radios from the FMC in that aircraft. If they could do that then a SetTunedFrequency function must exist in the SDK.Some further searching in the SDK documents found reference to the APITuneRadio function which will allow you to set the frequency on a radio from within a dll.So, you need a dll that will capture your keystrokes, interpret them as a frequency and pass the result to this function. Sorry, I can't help you with the actual mechanics of putting together a dll to do this as my C programming experience is limited to 'Hello world' type stuff.RegardsAndrew Luck18 miles SW EGSH

[zfehr 1]

Thank you Andrew, don't know if that is the kind of thing my knowledge will let me tackle either. Nice to know it could be done. I can supply a list of the keystrokes that are programmed into the ACP if there is sufficient interest for one of the developers to write such a dll.Zane

[Harald_Kraft 1]

Hi allI would like this DLL too.(for the same reason as zane.I remember, there has been an attempt to achieve this with the scripting language about 18 month ago, but it never worked perfect.So you DLL experts: please, please write us a DLL to tune the radios and the autopilot with keystrokes :-xxrotflmao thank youHarald

[Guest roland_lfor]

I'm not sure that I understand all of that.It's an hardware that replace the radio & autopilot function ?In which link type is it connected to computer ? USB or serial ?Is there a special protocol to communicate with it ? Documentation ?

[Guest tonyc]

I think what they are referring to is that while a gear function has a key function(G), radio tuning can only be done by mouse. So, if there's hardware that replaces the keyboard, this hardware cannot be programmed to do certain functions, such as radio tuning. I use ch programmable throttle, and with it I replace a number of keyboard functions. It's true that some FLY2 fucntions cannot be performed by keyboard. Another example is the autopilot. Other than autopilot on/off, the other functions can only be done via mouse.tony

[zfehr 1]

The ACP Compact from Aerosoft is a keystroke emulator that fits to the side of the monitor. The original used a PS/2 connection in which it was plugged in between the keyboard and computer, the latest is USB compatible (via a PS/2 to USB adaptor). Unfortunately you cannot program which keystrokes the ACP sends. That is via an EPROM which has been updated only once to my knowledge to make it FS2002/2004 compatible. When you switch the unit on you can hold different button combinations for internal programming to work with Microsoft's flight simulator two different ways. It also has limited functionality within Fly, ProPilot99, X-Plane and I think FU-3. Since you cannot tune the radios via keystrokes within Fly it is programmed for various external views and other things far too confusing so DON'T use the radio buttons.There was an older review at flightsim.com here: http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/review/acp.htm but I plan on writing a new review since I find I really like this unit, it works well, has good build quality and I am a little more realistic about the cost since I have been looking into doing something like this for three years. I don't have the time to futz with a homebuilt trial and error project (would rather fly anyway!), and any other radio hardware that would come close to the number of functions is considerably more expensive.Zane